TMC is set to sweep the violence-scarred panchayat polls in West Bengal after taking an unassailable lead in results declared by the State Election Commission till midnight on July 11.
"It's TMC all the way in rural Bengal. I want to thank the people for their love, affection and support towards the TMC. This election has proved that only TMC resides in the heart of the people of the state," Mamata Banerjee said in a Facebook post.
The elections were held on July 8 for over 73,000 seats in the three-tier panchayat system, comprising zilla parishad, panchayat samiti and gram panchayat
Trinamool leader Abhishek Banerjee on Tuesday thanked rural Bengal for voting in favour of the party and said the opposition's campaign of "no vote to Mamata" has turned into "Now vote for Mamata" and has paved the way for the "party's unwavering success in next year's Lok Sabha polls".
The elections are being seen by all parties as an indicator of which way the wind will blow in the 2024 parliamentary elections from this part of the country.
The violence which rocked the panchayat polls held on Saturday has claimed at least 15 lives with 11 of them from the ruling TMC. Since elections were announced last month, the number of people who died in poll-related incidents has been 33, with the ruling party suffering 60 per cent of the deaths.
Allegations of vote tampering and violence by various parties forced the SEC to order re-polling in 696 seats on Monday, which passed more or less peacefully. Intervention by the Calcutta High Court had seen the deployment of central police forces on both election and counting days.
(with PTI inputs)
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